Deepwater to Toowoomba - 04-05/05/2024

Well, as our adventure draws to a close, we will spend the next week or so with some family time with my Aunty Bet in Toowoomba and time to farewell my Aunty Ailsa in Brisbane tomorrow.

 

Crossing the border at Wallangara

Then we'll track towards home.

After leaving Armidale, we enjoyed one final bush camp overnight at Deepwater River between Glen Innes and Tenterfield.  A great secluded free camp spot in the scrub.  When we arrived we had the choice of wherever we wanted to go.  By nightfall a few other campers had rocked up but the area is so big, we could barely see anyone else through the bush and the camp ground is only a couple of k's off the New England Highway. 

 

Along the way from our last camp, we diverted to the east a little to a place, 'Drake Village' to do a check of the cemetery there in search of my Great Great Grandfather.  His death certificate states he died there.  Again came up empty there too.

A view along the way to Drake Village from Tenterfield

Glen Innes

 

Back on track, we passed through Tenterfield which we visited a couple of years ago.  Stopped to grab a few photos of 'Deloraine', an historic sandstone house on Clarence St, Tenterfield.  

Clarence St, Tenterfield

 

 

Armidale - 02-03/05/2024

We dropped into Armidale for a couple of days.  I have some family history here.  My great grandfather was born in Armidale and, in 1882 following the death of his birth mother (at the age of 35), a court order 'issued' him and his 4 siblings (2 brothers and 2 sisters) to different families - he was 5 years old at the time.  Then, he showed up in Central Qld with a differently spelt surname at his wedding in 1901.

The courthouse of 1882 still stands proudly in the centre of town

 

After a couple of hours traipsing around the Armidale Cemetery, I came up with nothing.  I'd hoped to find my great great grandmother's grave at least.  There are a few other sites of interest in the region to be investigated.   Time doesn't permit right now, so I'll leave those to another day.

Armidale, like all of this region, is basking in the colours of autumn - just beautiful everywhere!

Uralla - St Joseph's

The street through the centre of the cemetery

New England Highway - 29/04/2024 - 01/05/2024

We headed north towards Qld via the New England Highway (A15).  After leaving the Sydney surrounds, we stopped overnight on Lake Liddell which is man made lake just south of Muswellbrook.  The lake was built for cooling the decommissioned Liddell Power Station and also nearby Bayswater Power Station.  

Lake Liddell is a low cost ($8 per person per night - unpowered) campground.  You can also opt for a powered site - we went unpowered.

Decommissioned Liddell Power Station

 

Fiery sunrise across the lake

 

Since a week or so ago, I've been eager to see and capture the comet visible in the early evening western sky but so far nothing but cloudy skies.  I shall keep trying.  Lake Liddell proved to be no different.

Onwards from there, we chose to stay a couple of nights in Tamworth.

We did the tourist thing checking out the sights of Tamworth.  We visited the Information Centre which is the site of the Country Music and Guitar Museum.

The big Golden Guitar at the Infor Centre

Jimmy Little

Slim Dusty

Brian May (Queen)

Paul Stanley (Kiss)

John Williamson

To celebrate our 42nd Anniversary, we went for a delicious lunch at the 'Courthouse Hotel', a popular spot for the locals - so that's always a good measure of what to expect.

 

Northbound - 26-28/04/2024

Since we left you in the Victorian High Country, our travel plans have somewhat changed.  On ANZAC Day, I received the sad news that my Aunty Ailsa in Brisbane had passed away.

Pre-empting the funeral plans, we decided to head northward as quickly as possible.  So now we are camped overnight on the banks of the Hawkesbury River after a big push yesterday from Millingandi Station just north of Pambula on the south coast of NSW.

Now we are as close as another big push away from Brisbane, we await the date of the funeral so we'll just play it by ear over the next little while.

Overnight campsite on the side of the road - 'Double Bridges'

 

A cool foggy start to a long day's drive

Watched a bit of bush tellie

Mt Kosciuszko Lookout - looking through the smoke haze

Roadside shot - foggy drive up the Princes Highway yesterday

Mt Hotham - 23-24/04/2024

We left Seymour a couple of days ago and travelled as far as Benalla.  We stayed overnight in the centre of town in a free camp for self contained vehicles.

From Benalla, we headed up the Hume Highway to Wangaratta.  From there we jumped over to the Great Alpine Road (B500).  We had a campground called Devil's Hollow in mind as our next destination.  We were looking for a place to stay in the scrub for a couple of days.

As we drove further and further up the B500, we were nearing the summit of Mt Hotham.  I started to get a little edgy as we hadn't seen a caravan for some time that day and still we were climbing higher and higher.

On top of the world!

The view from the top

When we finally got to the turn off to our proposed campsite, there's a sign that says not suitable for caravans and large vehicles.  Bugger!!  It was a steep dirt road downhill.  So we moved on with trepidation and eventually found ourselves at the the summit where Hotham Heights, the township sits.  A fairly decent chilly howling wind blew.  We stopped on the side of a carpark and enjoyed lunch before moving on.

The highest point we've ever taken the van - Elevation 1760m

Lots of activity going on up here in preparation for the upcoming ski season

We began our descent and ended up pulling up stumps at Victoria Falls Campground which is a free camp of elevation 975m.  It's pretty chilly as you'd expect this time of year but nothing better than being in the bush in winter - sitting by a campfire.  This is the site of Victoria's first hydro electric power plant in 1908.

Campsite at Victoria Falls Campground in the Victorian high country

 

It's a bit chilli-bin here all day!

These are a few long lens shots from around our campsite at dawn this morning...

GPS : 19°18'22.54" S 146°47'43.7" E

PS: We awoke to a frosty morn today (25/04/2024) - overnight minimum of -4 degrees.